


Switch Earth

by PhantomWriter



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen is the Green Arrow, Doppelganger, M/M, Married Barry Allen/Iris West, Married Barry Allen/Oliver Queen, Oliver Queen is the Flash, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 07:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17240021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomWriter/pseuds/PhantomWriter
Summary: An Oliver Queen of another earth arrived in Earth-1 through a breach.This Oliver isn't the Green Arrow.





	Switch Earth

**Author's Note:**

> my take on Elseworld but the timeline is post season 6 and pre season 7 arrow and post season 4 and pre season 5 Flash. enjoy!

It was an evening of minimal crime rate when S.T.A.R. Labs breach alert rang, interrupting the current occupants of the cortex.

Barry, Cisco, and Iris exchanged worried glances, while Ralph noticed their exchange with confusion, asking Caitlin in a whisper when did they changed the meta alert tone. She patiently told him what it meant, pulling him along as she leaned over Cisco's shoulders.

"What the—this isn't far here," Cisco said. "Barry—"

"I'm on it." The Flash vanished in a lightning of yellow.

"Is it something we should worry about?" Ralph asked.

"We can't be sure until we hear from Barry. It's just that the breach has this signature of another earth," Cisco answered.

"Except the signature doesn't belong to any earth we know so far," Caitlin added with a frown.

"Whatever will come from it, we should hope it'll not turn out to be another Earth-X incident," Iris said.

"I hope so too," Cisco muttered. "I hope so."

The breach was thankfully located on the secluded spot nearby Barry's final encounter with Savitar almost two years ago. What he wasn't expecting, though, was the unmoving lump of red on the ground once the breach closed.

Barry went ahead. Carefully, he approached the figure that appeared to be a man at closer inspection. At the close proximity, Barry realized that he was familiar with the red the unconscious man was wearing.

He dropped any wariness as he saw the almost identical Flash symbol on the man's chest. He kneeled, checking for pulse after finding no visible injury; he breathed a sigh of relief after finding a steady rhythm, albeit weak.

"Guys, it's a speedster. His costume is the same as mine so I'm guessing he's The Flash of the earth he's from," he said on his coms.

" _Wait. So it's another you?"_

"Err… I don't know." If the situation wasn't so worrying, Barry would have find it amusing to discover another version of himself again, which wasn't so different from him. Though he wondered, too, if ever that was the case. Observing the man closely, his built was larger than Barry's lean one.

Okay, so it was either a different person underneath or a  _meatier_  Barry Allen.

When Barry pulled the cowl away, he was sure that his expression of shock was priceless upon seeing who it was wearing the Flash suit.

"Guys, you won't believe who this is."

* * *

"Well, Oliver Queen sure filled the suit in the right places," Ralph commented in passing. He received an odd stare from both Barry and Iris. "What? Just calling it how I see it."

"I mean, you're not wrong," Iris mumbled.

Suffice to say, Barry wasn't impressed. "Not you too."

"You know me before, Barry," she reminded him. Whatever happened to that cheat list of hers?

"Anyway," Barry began, returning to the topic at hand. "Can we contact Felicity?"

"She's unreachable with the witness protection program. And Diggle did say he'll be joining Argus, but he wasn't picking up. I'll try again later, maybe contact the other members of the Team Arrow as well."

"Actually, hold that off for a moment," Barry finally decided. "We know it isn't the Oliver that we know, because one, he came from the breach, and two, if that's Ollie, we'll hear about his escape immediately."

"Lemme get this straight." Ralph held out a hand. "Since there are infinite universes out there, there's also duplicates of us, right? Why is there an earth where you have Oliver Queen's face? Not fair, dude."

Obviously, the point was already missed by him. "It's not really impossible, Ralph. What's curious is what brought him here."

"Caitlin said his vitals are now stable. We can ask him questions later."

Barry remained firmly at the same place even as Iris quietly bid him good night. He told her he would stand by, assuring her that while he doubted this Oliver Queen was as hostile as the Nazi counterpart of him, he could handle another speedster.

"Call me, okay? Love you."

By midnight, Barry was sitting on a foldable chair by the bed Oliver Queen was lying on. The rest had gone to their respective home.

The speedster Ollie didn't look that different from the Oliver that Barry knew: his hair was cropped short, with his pepper-blond facial hair trimmed short. The only difference was that this person wasn't as heavily scarred on any visible skin of his torso. Judging from the gold band he was wearing, it seemed that he was also a married man. Barry's mouth morphed into a smile at the thought of another Felicity.

He wondered if this Oliver experienced the same past as Barry's friend. It occurred to Barry then that he it has been a while since he last saw Oliver. He ought to drop by the precinct next time. Oliver could use a different visitor that wasn't reminding him of the family he was missing out.

Barry just hoped that Oliver wouldn't think of him too much of a terrible friend.

He had fallen asleep somewhere between scheduling a visit to Star City when Oliver twitched, groaning awake before sitting up in an instant and then wincing in pain.

"Whoa." Barry went to his side, pushing him back on his shoulders. "It's okay. Your body is healing the internal bruising around your abdomen so you have to move carefully."

Oliver sucked a deep breath and met his eyes, and for a moment, Barry thought his hand was going to creep up his neck and squeeze like his very first encounter with the Green Arrow. The thought was squashed when Oliver smiled in a way akin to relief. "Barry? You—You're alright. I'm sorry. I should have known he'll—Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Wait, Oliver," Barry interrupted, gently removing the large hand from his nape. "Um, I'm not the Barry of your earth, so I don't know what's going on." Goodie. So there was  _another_ Barry Allen too.

Olivet frowned, blinking the grogginess away. "What?"

"We found you not far from here. With a breach open. So I assume you came from that. You have to tell me what's going on so we can help you return if you can't."

Oliver sighed. "It's a success then."

"What is?"

Oliver's blue eyes stared around with wonder, taking his surroundings with familiarity. "This is S.T.A.R. Labs," he murmured.

Barry considered for a moment. "Is this your first time to cross the dimension boundary?"

"Yes. My team is aware in the multiverse theory, but we—I never tested it before. Accidentally or not. Until recently."

Surely he had accidental time travels and dimension hopping? "How long have you been a speedster?"

"Just a year ago." Oliver looked like he has more to say but held off. "So. This world is identical to where I came from. S.T.A.R. Labs is exactly the same in the inside, I noticed. How about the people here? Are there also a Cisco and Caitlin?"

"There are. Part of the Team Flash too." Barry smiled. "For a first timer, you're taking this too well."

"When you're a speedster, there are very little things that could surprise you," Oliver replied, and Barry had to agree with him. "And I might have picked up some books on Quantum Physics."

Ralph was right; it wasn't fair. "You mentioned a Barry Allen. What happened to him?"

"We have this meta that can open portals. I was fighting him and Barry got caught in the middle of it. I already caught Breacher, but he won't cooperate to open the same opening where he threw Barry. I had to improvise after Cisco and Caitlin said I could open my own with my speed.

"I have to know if he's here, if I arrived at the same destination as his. If I didn't then I have to move on to another. My team managed to whip something up that allows me to reach three different dimensions. Tops. After that, I have to return to my world."

"It's a last minute thing, isn't it? And you said this is the first time you and your team tried dimensional travel."

"I need to hurry. Barry could handle his own, but who knows what kind of place he landed?"

"I know. And while on the outside you look alright, you have some broken bones and bruises. You should rest first. Heal. First thing tomorrow morning, we can gather the others. They'll be more than willing to help." If the Team Arrow wasn't out of commission, Barry might have asked them for their help as well.

Barry's tone left no room for argument, though he was surprised when Oliver didn't put up a fight stubbornly like Barry knew he would. Perhaps their similarity began and stopped at their physical appearance.

"I know you're worried for him. But you said it yourself: your Barry could surely hold up his own," Barry said sincerely.

"You're right," Oliver agreed weakly. He peered at Barry, a conflicted look flashed across his features for a split-second. "I'm sorry. It's just that I'm not used to a different version of Barry. I'm used to him being too obstinate for his own good." There was no small amount of fondness when Oliver absently twisted his wedding band.

"Funny. That's how I would describe the Oliver Queen that I know," Barry teased.

"You know an Oliver?" Barry's attempt to lighten the mood must have worked, making Oliver crack a smile. "Does that mean you're both speedsters?"

"Ah, no. I'm The Flash of this earth. There are some other speedsters that I know from here, but Oliver is not one of them," Barry told him. "The Oliver Queen that I know is the Green Arrow." Oliver's vigilante identity that caused his incarceration, Barry was on the verge of saying.

"Oh." Oliver grinned wryly—there was a need to get used to the easy smiles this Oliver. "From my earth, Barry is the Green Arrow."

Barry's brows shot up. Him,  _the_ Green Arrow? Talk about badass. "Truly?"

"Yeah. And if your Green Arrow is the same as mi—ours, then you know how capable he is." Oliver's expression dimmed. "My worries for him aren't doubts on his expertise, but—"

"I know." Barry smiled in understanding. "The Green Arrow is way ahead of me in terms of experience. We once sparred, and yet he still kicked my ass despite my speed. He could handle almost anything, but sometimes, Oliver forgets to think about himself, forgets that his burdens shouldn't be shouldered by him alone. He often forgets that he has friends and that he needs to be concerned for his own welfare. I'd like to think that I'm one of those people who greatly believes and worries for him at the same time."

Oliver looked up, drowsiness seemed to be clouding his vision; some of Caitlin's administered meds finally kicking in. "I'm sure… that your Oliver is glad he has people like you supporting his back."

* * *

It wasn't surprising to find out that Oliver's first encounter with evil speedsters were Flash and Zoom, and of course their real identities switched as well (Cisco was starting to call it Switch Earth). Everything was confusing for Oliver, though fortunately, he was much level-headed and calmer than Barry himself, perhaps putting first his need to find the other Green Arrow, his Barry.

Oliver was willing to get every help he could get that Barry would sometimes forget that it was a different Oliver. It was always the demeanor that would remind him. He gave him a few pointers as well regarding wormholes and the risks of running past his usual speed. Seeing as he was pretty new with being The Flash, Oliver was willing to listen to Barry's advice despite his growing concern for his own Barry in every hour that would tick by.

"I'm sorry," Oliver suddenly said while Barry was giving lectures on time traveling. "I appreciate that you're sharing these to me while all we can do is wait. It's just that I'm kind of distracted."

Barry met his apologetic glance with a comforting pat on the back. "It's fine. Frankly, I'm not used to this: me giving Oliver advice." He sat gave a pause. All these pacing around must have made Oliver more tense. "So tell me about Barry instead. How did you two meet?"

Oliver's answer was almost entwined with how he got his speed.

Earth-80's particle accelerator exploded last 2017. Oliver was a forensic scientist who happened to be working at SCPD after he relocated from Central, working mostly on cases about the Star City vigilante at least three years and a half before the explosion. Unlike most of SCPD, Oliver was willing to work with the vigilante, until he was found out and was kicked from the force, fortunately without getting arrested for aiding and abating a vigilante, but forcing him to return to Central the night of the explosion. Oliver mentioned trying to figure out the Green Arrow's identity way back then as if solving a puzzle, all the while not considering Barry Allen, the brilliant son and heir of Henry and Nora Allen, top medical practitioners who built their empire with their several branches of top hospitals. There would always be at least one Allen & Allen Hospital in any city, Oliver said.

After the yacht trip of the Allens, they were never heard of again until Barry's return five years after the incident. But what returned was the shadow of the once brilliant young man with a bright future that he could have made for himself without his family's riches. When Barry returned to the Allen's dusty manor, it was said that he hadn't smiled again.

Barry elevated his status back through ownership of chains of nightclubs and bars that were shrouded with terrible reputations after the establishments had gotten involved with drug and arms dealing. Barry's businesses were labeled fronts for drug manufacturing, even going as far as to accuse him of employing blind workers as a way to keep his employees leashed. It was said that Barry buried the accusations ruthlessly with the use of his important connections to the DA and SCPD.

Oliver had formally met Barry during an SCPD charity that Barry Allen had funded and was believed to have come from dirty money. SCPD had treated it as an insult when they found out that the police chief himself was in cohorts with  _the_  Barry Allen of Star City. Oliver, while not exactly unfamiliar with Barry Allen (his sister Thea has been having about him since long ago) and his reputation, couldn't understand where the hostility was coming from. As far as he knew, Barry's notoriety was based on rumors.

Oliver attended the SCPD charity to acclimate himself with his co-workers, and, admittedly, for the free food, but it was definitely unexpected that he made an impression to Barry Allen by simply being the sole neutral person inside the hall. Oliver wasn't any among those people who were either wary, or mad, or uncomfortable in Barry's presence; nor was he one of those top brass men who tried rubbing elbows with the wealthy young man.

Barry Allen had approached him while Oliver was on his fourth plate of sushi, and the latter was already replying without even looking at who was asking him if he was enjoying himself with the food. Oliver was sure that he almost choked on a piece of salmon when he found out who it was.

Oliver thought it was merely a mutual way to pass the stuffy evening that dragged on, until he and Barry became engaged on conversations regarding the most random subjects. Oliver was quite talkative with the right people, and Barry was certainly one of those. The younger man was clearly smart, charming, and he wasn't the brooding man they said he became.

What Oliver first noticed, though, was the tinge of loneliness in his eyes and the smile that never quite reached them.

That was why the embarrassment for his babbling was certainly worth it.

"I'm curious," Oliver remembered saying. "Is this charity thing like the saying 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'?"

The very first hint of a genuine smile was exactly at Barry's amused reply of: "Finally, somebody got it."

Oliver wasn't sure whether the warm feeling at the back of his neck was from his second embarrassment for the night or from something else.

Since then, Oliver had often 'bumped' on him.

He became one (if not the only one) of the closest person to Barry Allen, and it might be because Oliver never pried on anything else that Barry wasn't willing to share. Oliver was often the one to fill the silence, a gesture he knew didn't go unappreciated whenever he would get Barry's relaxed expression when he was with him.

Oliver couldn't pinpoint the exact time when he started to—

"Started to what?" Barry asked gently when Oliver stopped.

Oliver was twisting his wedding band again when he took notice of the ring on Barry's own finger.

"You're married," Oliver observed.

"I am," Barry took the sudden non sequitur as Oliver's way of distraction to his Barry's situation. So that line of conversation that Barry started wasn't effective. Oliver looked like he wanted to ask who to. "I'm married to Iris for almost a year now," he shared. "Is the Barry you know married too?"

"Yes," Oliver whispered. "But to a different person."

Frankly, Barry couldn't see himself being with somebody else than Iris. His Earth-2 counterpart seemed to think so too. He wondered what made it so much different in Earth-80. "And you? Was it Felicity Smoak?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow, chuckling. "No. Never met one of the CEOs of Palmer-Smoak before, to be honest."

He continued, saying he was caught by the SCPD relaying information to the vigilante. Oliver was lucky that the anti-vigilante bill was yet to be passed, therefore not charging him as an accessory. He was told that being kicked out of the force was the heaviest punishment they could sentence him, though it would certainly leave a mark on his record. What Oliver found difficult, however, was bidding farewell the very same evening to the two people who made his stay at Star City worthwhile. He wasn't expecting the vigilante to show when he called for him on a more personal notice, nor was he expecting Barry Allen to show up in person when Oliver could only muster a short text message for him as his way of saying goodbye.

Never in Oliver's life did he expect them to be the same person.

Their conversation was interrupted by Caitlin calling for both of them to come to the cortex. Barry and Oliver exchanged a brief glance, hoping it was good news.

"The breach signal wasn't that strong as when you made one. That's why we didn't detect it earlier before your arrival," Cisco said one the two arrived. "But a more extensive search in the past 48 hours showed a breach that opened during the time you mentioned your Barry went missing."

"Where?" Oliver asked.

"Lian Yu."

* * *

Barry came along, two yellow lightning zipping across Central and past Star City. One was ahead of the other in immense hurry. Barry couldn't blame Oliver, although it was interesting to note that the Oliver with him acted like Barry would when it came to Iris. His mouth curled into another smile; no doubt that the Oliver of his own earth wouldn't have been afraid to display that big heart of his should his circumstances matched this other Oliver. The two Olivers were hardly different in terms of the matters of the heart, Barry realized.

Barry wondered if he would see himself to the other Barry they were about to meet.

Oliver halted a good mile south of the island. It was a clear field surrounded with clusters of tall trees that could serve as good vantage points. Oliver seemed to think so as well, surveying treetops from below as he carefully moved around. Barry turned to him quizzically when he began to carefully move around, wary. Barry would have offered to case the surroundings if not for Oliver shaking his head.

"There's some traps on the ground. We have to be careful," Oliver warned.

Of course. If Barry Allen of Earth-80 was the Green Arrow, then he must have shared the same routinely apprehension that the Green Arrow Oliver has.

For a moment, Barry thought Oliver was ready to shake down some trees if it would mean locating his Barry. Instead, he turned upwards, raising his voice that gave the silence of the forest a mild shake, "Barry, where are you? It's me, Oliver!"

For a while, they were met with nothing but the chirping of insects and the wind rustling the leaves, until there was a distinct sound of something, or somebody, approaching and moving between foliage.

Two arrows that served as a warning to not come any closer were immediately on the ground by Barry's feet.

A man landed a few feet away from Oliver's position. The built clad in muddied camouflage-green wasn't dissimilar to Barry in terms of stature, only it was hooded and hand poised readily on his bow and arrow.

"Barry?"

The hooded figure's shoulder visibly tensed when it recognized Oliver's voice. He looked up the same moment Oliver removed his cowl.

A click was heard, and Barry could see clearer the familiar features of high cheekbones and the chin when the hooded man unhooded, looking at Oliver without removing his mask. "Oliver?"

Oliver didn't need any more prompting when he readily met his Barry in a relieved (and rather intimate, if Barry would say so) embrace that they shared. Oliver's hands carefully ran on his Barry's arms to check for any injuries. The Barry in his arms assured him quietly and gave him a glance-over of his own. Satisfied that they were both fine, Barry kind of expected that they would part.

Instead, Oliver brought their foreheads together, face closer, and  _oh—_

It felt like intervening on a very private moment, which should have caused Barry to automatically avert his eyes. If he wasn't occupied slacking his jaw, that was.

Barry wasn't expecting… that.

If he thought deeply, though, somewhere in his mind believed that he  _could_  see this. Well, certainly not for himself, but with this other Oliver who was so fond and passionate when he spoke of his own Barry Allen. He had been frantic and utterly worried like how Barry would have been for his own wife. The clues were there, and Barry was too dense to connect the obvious dots—Oliver's twisting of his wedding band absently when talking about his Barry, the abrupt changing of subject that could have been alluded to not wanting to make Barry uncomfortable to find out that his Earth-80 version was married to another man whose counterpart was clearly a close friend of this earth's Barry. Oliver was careful not to cause any discomfort, making Barry suddenly feel silly for his reaction to the kiss presently happening in front of him.

Why did it matter even who the other Barry ended up with? The other him was happy despite being the Green Arrow and having the same scars and baggage underneath the hood. It wasn't Iris that this Barry found his happiness from, and he was glad that the other him found an Oliver Queen that filled the role of Iris in Barry Allen's own life.

Barry's eyes connected to the other him when the former spared the couple a glance. Consciously, Barry was reminded that his cowl remained on his face, and only then did he remove it and showed his face.

Green Arrow Barry's eyes widened upon seeing him.

"Hello, Barry," Barry said first in greeting, extending a hand. "I'm Barry Allen, too, in this world. But I'm The Flash instead." A grin he couldn't help broke on his face.

The other Barry separated himself from Oliver to return the greeting. "Barry Allen… Green Arrow." His expression was tentative, guarded, but there was wonder and fascination dancing in his green eyes. "I—This is… How is this possible?"

"Team Flash will explain the technicalities."

* * *

"So… there are multiple earths?"

"Infinite," Cisco clarified.

"Right," Green Arrow Barry—who Flash Barry was calling Barr as to not be confusing—said. He already came down from his surprise in seeing the familiar faces of Cisco and Caitlin, and Iris earlier ago. As of now, there were only the two Barrys, Oliver, Cisco, and Caitlin at the cortex. "And there are multiple us—" he gestured between him and Oliver, "—as well."

"Yes, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you lead the same life as them. Like in our case," Barry explained.

"I see. The worlds are not identical but rather parallel."

"There are some cases where we don't exist… or those who we knew dead are alive."

"I'm lucky that I found you at first try," Oliver suddenly said to Barr. "I would have gone to two other more should I be unsuccessful here."

"And those two more could have been perilous places," Caitlin reminded. "Now about your return trip, don't worry. Cisco here will be making a breach that specifically lead to your earth."

"We can't return the same way Oliver arrived?" Barr asked.

"You could," Caitlin began slowly. "But it'll take a toll on Oliver's body, given that his speed is considerably new to him. He'll need to develop his experience more, and before he knows it, he'll accidentally come across different earths easily. Not that it's really advisable, unless necessary or only to those friendly earths."

"How long will it take? The extrapolator, I mean," Barr asked, crossing his arms in a Green Arrow fashion. He sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the help you're giving us, and I'm glad that Oliver was found by you people. It's just that…"

"From where we came from, Star and Central don't have enough vigilantes to take over in our absence. My teammates are exceptionally brilliant people, but none of them are a meta like me," Oliver finished for him, looking at Cisco and Caitlin. "And Barry has Felicity and Mr. Diggle alone in his team. Mr. Palmer occasionally help, but he's often away on important personal matters."

"Holding the fort by yourselves then," Barry smiled in understanding. "We—I mean, me and my friend Oliver, had the same dilemma back then. Too many bad guys and too very few to fight them. Eventually, you make friends with people and find out that they share your motivations. You connect with good people, even to those that aren't of this earth. We all start somewhere, and the team might be small in number at the beginning, but if it's composed of people you trust the most, then you can face anything that came hurdling your path."

Barry would like to think that he knew the look on Barr, that the latter was considering of something like recruiting more teammates and training them. Barry supposed that his counterpart has the same qualms as Ollie before in regards to taking in more people to be part of the Team Arrow. It wasn't the reluctance to trust more, but rather on putting more people who have a lot to lose in front of danger.

With the hand that settled itself on Barr's shoulder, Barry knew not to worry. Oliver was willing to stand by his Barry on whatever decision he would make.

* * *

"Where are they?" Barr's voice whispered when it was he and Barry. Barry followed his line of sight and saw that he was looking at the framed picture of his parents that was at the table top of the office they were in. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"My mom died when I was eleven. She was murdered by Reverse Flash," Barry recounted with the dull ache of her passing. He moved on after achieving justice for her, yes, but the pain didn't fade. "My father was imprisoned for that. He was eventually killed by Zoom."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"They're together now, and before he died, my father's name was cleared," Barry said. He tilted his head, a little hesitant to broach the subject. "Oliver told me that you went on a trip with yours."

"They died there. They were together, at least," Barr told him. "I used to wish that I died with them," he admitted, taking Barry by surprise. "Partly the reason why I became a vigilante in a dangerous city." He gave a humorless chuckle. "Who am I kidding? That was  _mainly_ the reason."

Barry didn't answer. What could he even say to that?

"I wore the hood, wishful that I would meet my end one night." Barr was staring far away when he continued. "It was when I went out one evening not as a Green Arrow that I found something worth living for. No, it wasn't the people that needed my help. It was Oliver. The funny thing was, the person I often feared the safety of, because of his association with me, was a police officer. But I cared still. He's soft; not in a sense that he's weak. It's his strength, the softness of his heart. I don't deserve to have that."

"You can't possibly still think of that."

"Oh, but I do." Barr's mouth formed a thin line. His smile was wry. "I'm married to him for half a year now, because when he fell into a comatose I was taken by fear of losing him. It was selfish of me, I know, but I don't think I could handle another loss of an important person. I'm not strong as you, Barry, and my love for him might not be as pure as what you shared with Iris, but it's Oliver who makes me feel alive. He doesn't just complete me. He's my whole."

Barry approached him after the silence lengthened. "We may have love differently and different people, but it doesn't make both of our feelings any lesser than the other. I'm proud of you, because you're a living proof that I am happy no matter which earth I exist and what kind of life I live, with or without Iris. I feel lucky that another me found happiness on another person despite the harsh experiences that he had to endure." He encircled his arms around Barr. It should have felt odd since it was basically embracing yourself, but it wasn't. Barr needed this, Barry knew. "You don't have to hug me back," Barry teased. "I'm just a hugger."

He missed the genuine smile that Barr has. Barry was his counterpart who felt like a family. It has been a while since he had one outside his husband and his teammates. "I'll let it slide this time."

* * *

"Take this too," Cisco handed the two an extrapolator. "For emergency purposes."

"Emergency?" Oliver asked.

"Like alien threats and some otherworldly forces," Barry supplied. "Hopefully, you won't use it for that. But if ever you want to drop by, then we're just one dimension away."

"Noted," Barr said with a hint of a smirk.

"Lemme guess," Oliver started. "We're not the first to be given this."

"Of course not," Cisco replied with a huge grin. "Oh, now I want you two and Kara to meet."

At the pair's inquisitive stare, Barry shrugged. "Told you we're a friendly bunch."

Their departure was quite a hopeful affair of next time. Barry full believed that too, that it wouldn't be the last time he would see them. Maybe one day, with Ollie, even.

And, oh, Barry could certainly imagine Oliver's expression if he found out.

But before that…

There was a visit to Slabside that he has to arrange.

* * *

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for the read!


End file.
